September 7, 2011

The Turkish-Israeli Cold War

Henri Barkey, The National Interest

AP Photo

On Friday, the Turkish government declared a Cold War on Israel. It kicked out Israel’s ambassador, downgraded diplomatic relations with Israel to the second-secretary level and canceled the military relationship. The consequences of this crisis for the stability of the eastern Mediterranean and for the Obama administration are quite severe. The Erdogan government is now saying explicitly something it had implied for the last two years—that Washington has to choose between two allies, Ankara and Jerusalem.

Read Full Article ››

TAGGED: Middle East, Israel, Turkey

RECOMMENDED ARTICLES

May 16, 2012
Saudi Arabia & Turkey: Frenemies
Meliha Altunisik, Foreign Affairs
Last month, Saudi Arabia rolled out the red carpet for Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The visit was yet another example of the degree to which relations between the two countries have improved in recent years. ... more ››
May 15, 2012
Building a New Future for Turkey
Albright & Hadley, The Great Debate
The crisis in Syria and the confrontation with Iran over its nuclear program have highlighted the renewed importance of one of the oldest and most enduring relationships of the United States: its alliance with Turkey. The... more ››
May 11, 2012
Erdogan Tightens His Grip in Turkey
Andrew Finkel, Latitude
Is Turkey’s prime minister past his expiration date? At first glance, the question sounds absurd. Recep Tayyip Erdogan has led his Justice and Development Party, known as the A.K.P., to three consecutive electoral... more ››
May 7, 2012
Turkey-U.S. Ties in a Post-Alliance World
Gokhan Bacik, Today's Zaman
The foreign policies of states are less consistent nowadays. In the past, alliance formation among states occurred on the basis of very precisely defined common interests. A typical alliance delineated the red lines of bilateral... more ››
May 14, 2012
Can Islamists Be Liberals?
Mustafa Akyol, New York Times
For those concerned about extremism in the Middle East, this is good news. It was the exclusion and suppression of Islamists by secular tyrants that originally bred extremism. (Ayman al-Zawahri, Al Qaeda’s leading ideologue,... more ››